A young woman who gave a small child a potentially fatal morphine overdose in hospital, tried to blame the infant's father for the poison attack.

Charlotte Lee, 21, used powerful painkilling pills to spike bottles of Lucozade and Fruit Shoot which she left with the child when she visited over a period of three days at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.

The toddler needed emergency treatment in a paediatric high dependency unit after their breathing slowed down and they almost lost consciousness.

Doctors realised what was happening when the child's urine tested positive for opiates and nurses removed the Fruit Shoot bottle for testing.

Charlotte Lee, 21, is pictured leaving Exeter Crown Court where she received a suspended jail sentence for giving a toddler a potentially fatal morphine overdose

It contained morphine at a level that was four times the maximum safe dose for a child of that age and could even have been fatal to an adult weighing eleven stone.

Lee lied to medical staff about poisoning the child and accused the infant's natural father of bringing the spiked drinks into hospital.

She was suffering from a psychological disorder which made her believe the drugs were helping rather than harming the child.

Lee, of Seaton, Devon, admitted administering a poison or noxious substance with intent to endanger life in February last year.

Lee lied to medical staff about poisoning the child and accused the infant's natural father of bringing the spiked drinks into hospital

She left the child with the spiked drinks when she visited over a period of three days at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital

She was jailed for two years, suspended for two years, and ordered to receive psychiatric counselling as part of 35 days of rehabilitation activities by Recorder David Bartlett at Exeter Crown Court.

He told her: 'It may be this was done with the best of intentions. It was certainly reckless and you failed to consider the effect of administering morphine to the child without knowing what it might do. You risked the infant's life in those few days.

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'These actions were compounded your refusal to accept that only nursing staff should administer drinks. You still tried to force the child to take a blackcurrant drink which contained morphine.

'You tried to push the blame onto the child's father, saying he must have brought in the Fruit Shoot bottle spiked with morphine. You said that to doctors and the police. It was a lie, and a wicked lie, and that aggravates the offence very much.

'What you were doing, in a misguided way, and I stress the word misguided, arose from your concern for the child. You did not think of the consequence of giving that quantity of morphine.

Peter Coombe, prosecuting at Exeter Crown Court (pictured), said the toddler was admitted to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in February 2016 for a suspected urinary disorder

'That was very reckless. I am persuaded your actions were intended to assist the child rather than harm it. The prosecution accept there was no intention to cause serious harm but you must recognise there was an undoubted risk.'

The judge said he was able to suspend the sentence because Lee now admits what she did, is remorseful, and is receiving help.

Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said the toddler was admitted to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in February 2016 for a suspected urinary disorder.

This condition initially improved but then deteriorated rapidly after the child drank from a bottle of Lucozade bottle and a Fruit Shoot brought in by Lee.

Tests showed the infant had traces of morphine in their urine and she was told by nursing staff not to administer any more drinks but was found trying to make the child consume a cup of blackcurrant juice which she had mixed in a toilet cubicle.

On one occasion she claimed the toddler was very choosy about what they drank from and said it was their 'special drink' - even though the toddler said a fruit drink tasted 'yukky'.

She denied poisoning the child and claimed the spiked drink had been brought in by the boy's natural father.

She was found with an empty bottle of the orally taken painkiller Oramorph which should have been half full.

Miss Kelly Scrivener, defending, said Lee has already suffered severe consequences from her actions but has turned a corner in her life by accepting she needs help and treatment.